Author: grant

While waiting for the Roadcrafter suit to arrive; I decided to get my old leather coat out of storage. Purchased at the flea market in Orange County, CA sometime in the mid-nineties, I’d somehow managed never to wear it. While some may lament the 90’s shoulder-pad styling, it is hard not to like the southwestern influenced design.
Thus far it has been pretty comfortable, the leather seems sturdy, and you know… I don’t mind the smitten looks that I receive while wearing it one bit ;).

The MSF beginner’s riders class that I took a month or so ago required shoes that covered the ankles and I ended up buying a pair of the Brahma Hutch II lace-less steel-toe boots from Walmart. Wearing now for a about a month I’ve been really impressed; they are comfortable, broke in really easily, and slip on and off pretty quickly. Perhaps the only downside for motorcycle-riding is that the steel-toe makes for awkward shifting and breaking. For that reason I’m looking at buying some real motorcycle boots pretty soon; in particular the TCX X-Five.
All in all for only $30USD this is a really nice boot.

After a good bit of research I decided to go with a Shoei RF1100. After a few hundred miles I’ve found it to be really nice; comfortable, a lot of air goes through it, and it doesn’t squeal when you are sitting behind a windshield like a couple of reviews that I had read suggested.
Perhaps the most bothersome discovery is the ridge on the top of my head that is going to force me to purchase some extra padding or something to level out the top of the helmet so it quits giving me a headache!

One “funny” thing I found in the owner’s manual was a warning that if you purchase the Matte Black helmet then you need to be extra, extra-careful about protecting its finish. Great!